Ginny Weasley woke with the same nervous excitement bubbling in her stomach that she had woken up with every day since her birthday. Seeing Harry had been electric, it had made her feel alive.
Not alive enough to warrant me getting up yet. Ginny thought to herself as she buried her head in her pillows and started to drift back to sleep, images of herself being held by Harry swam through her head, filling her body with a warm feeling.
“Come on Ginny, are you packed yet?” called a voice from downstairs.
Ginny’s eyes snapped open and she squinted as light hit her pupils. She leapt out of bed; her long hair whipping around her face as she did. Her thoughts of Harry had made her completely forget what day it was; she was returning to Hogwarts today. As she got up Ginny reached under her pillow and grabbed the locket, and quickly fastened it around her neck.
Ginny hurriedly pulled on her clothes and brushed her hair, before opening the large trunk at the end of her bed. The trunk was already half full of spell books, potion ingredients and various other bits and pieces. Ginny threw her robes, wand and broomstick into the trunk and slammed it shut. With a loud grunt, Ginny pulled her trunk out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen.
The smell of bacon and eggs filled her nostrils as Ginny entered the kitchen, dragging her heavy trunk behind her. Mrs Weasley was busy cooking; she was the only one in the kitchen.
“Mum, where is everybody else?” Asked Ginny, dropping her trunk as she spoke.
Mrs Weasley jumped at the sound of the trunk hitting the floor and turned to face Ginny, clutching a hand to her chest. “Ginny! You gave me quite a fright.” She took a deep breath before talking again. “Bill, Percy, Fred and George are all at work. You know that Charlie had to go back to Romania a week ago. Ron and Hermione are waiting outside.”
“They’re coming with us?”
“Change of plan Ginny dear, they are taking you to the platform. I have to go into the Ministry to see your father; he’s messing about with some Muggle invention and needs his screwdrivers? I think that’s what they are called. Enough questions, have some breakfast, big day today!”
Ginny helped herself to a large plate of eggs and bacon, and plenty of toast. Once she had finished, she helped Mrs Weasley tidy up and took hold of her trunk.
As she struggled to heave her trunk out to the Ministry car that Mr Weasley had arranged to take her to Kings Cross station, Ginny suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to pack something. She dropped her trunk to the floor and ran back into the house, straight past a bemused Mrs Weasley, who shook her head and muttered, “Every year someone forgets something.” Ginny burst through her bedroom door and scooped up the picture of her and Harry, which had been standing by her bedside, and ran back to the car. Throwing open her trunk she carefully wrapped the picture in a robe and closed the trunk lid.
Ginny was in the middle of trying to wrestle her trunk into the back of the car when she saw Ron and Hermione walking towards her, hand in hand. Ginny felt a twinge of sadness as she imagined herself and Harry doing that.
“Need a hand Ginny?” said Ron, smirking at her.
“Oh no, it’s no trouble at all,” snapped Ginny. “Stop asking stupid questions and pick up the other end.” Ron did as he was told and between the two of them they managed to get the heavy trunk into the car boot.
Panting slightly, Ginny headed back to the house to say goodbye to her mother.
“Bye, mum, wish you were coming with me,” said Ginny, as she hugged Mrs Weasley.
“Don’t be upset, Ginny, you’ll be home at Christmas, so will everyone else, even Charlie!”
Ginny let go of her mum and smiled at her. Christmas seemed a long way away. Without another word, Ginny kissed her mother goodbye and climbed into the car next to Ron and Hermione.
On the journey to Kings Cross Station, Ginny had to keep herself from asking about Harry; where he was? What he was doing? Had he mentioned her? As she opened her mouth to ask, Hermione interrupted her.
“Harry wishes you good luck, you know”
Ginny felt her face going red, had she been that obvious?
“Why couldn’t he make it today? I thought he’d have come with you?” She tried, unsuccessfully, to mask the disappointment in her voice.
Hermione opened her mouth but no words came out, it was Ron who spoke instead, “Ginny, you’ve got to understand, when Harry showed up at your party, neither of us knew he was going to be there.”
“But…”
“Don’t interrupt, just listen. At your party that was the most cheerful I’ve seen Harry in a long, long time.” Hermione nodded in agreement, “It will take a while to be as close as we were. We work together, but it’s not been the same.”
“That didn’t answer my question.”
“Ginny, Harry didn’t come because he’s probably doing what he is always doing lately, looking and listening for Peter Pettigrew,” sighed Ron “It’s all he thinks about - it’s an obsession, like I said in Diagon Alley. He feels like he needs to catch Pettigrew before he can make peace with his parents and Sirius’ deaths. There’s no talking to him about it, it’s just something he has to do.”
Deciding not to pursue the matter any further Ginny thought she’d have a look at the old notebook that Harry had given her for her birthday.
“What’s that Ginny?” asked Hermione, eyeing the book with interest.
“Its just a book that Harry gave me for my birthday. Its got some spells in it, ones I think that he has made up himself.” Ginny decided to keep the fact that the book also contained poetry to herself.
“Wow, that’s quite the present,” admired Ron. “I’ve seen him do some of his own spells, its amazing; he’s doing things with a wand that I’ve never seen before. If he has given you those spells to learn, I’d learn them, because you’re the only one who has ever had that chance.”
“You mean he’s never showed you these spells?”
“He’s showed me them sure. He uses some of them at work, but he hasn’t taught me them, Harry is a master at non-verbal spells now, its impossible to know how he is casting the spells. He didn’t get Outstanding on all his N.E.W.Ts for nothing you know.”
Ginny noticed the look of hurt in Hermione’s eyes as Ron uttered those words, Ginny knew that Hermione had been disappointed as she had only received eleven Outstanding grades, and had received one Exceeds Expectation grade on her N.E.W.Ts.
The rest of the journey passed in silence broken by the occasional giggle as Ron and Hermione cuddled up to each other. Ginny was busied herself by studying the notebook, the spells were fascinating. Ginny read some of the poetry, but it was making her feel sad to read it, so she stuck to the spells instead.
When they arrived at Kings Cross station, Ron and Ginny took her trunk out of the boot of the car, which promptly sped off back towards the Ministry of Magic.
Ginny, Ron and Hermione immediately headed to Platform 9 ¾. Upon crossing the magical barrier to the platform, Ginny laid eyes on the magnificent scarlet Hogwarts Express.
“It’s weird to be here and not to be getting on the train,” Ron said, looking longingly at the train, which was now billowing smoke.
“You better get on board, Ginny,” Said Hermione, giving Ginny a hand with her trunk.
Ginny was just about to say her goodbyes when she saw a large silver blur behind Ron. As she stared at it, the blur slowly formed it the shape of a stag, causing onlookers to gasp in shock and awe. Ginny noticed Ron’s eyes widening at the sight of it, and he drew his own wand and a burst of silver light shot of out the end, forming the shape of a small dog, which disappeared with the stag.
“I’ve got to go, Ginny. Good luck at school. I’ll see you at Christmas ok?” Ron said, giving Ginny a hug.
“Wait, Ron, that Stag. Harry. What? Patronus. Where are you going?” Ginny spluttered.
Before she could manage to string the words together to make a proper sentence, Ron had kissed Hermione goodbye and disappeared.
Ginny turned to Hermione, looking for some hint as to what was going on; unfortunately Hermione was looking at Ginny exactly the same way.
“Auror business, I imagine.” She smiled at Ginny.
“Hermione, you know as well as I do that that stag belongs to Harry. Why is he contacting Ron in that way? We haven’t used Patronus’ since the fall of Voldemort.”
Hermione looked at her, a worried expression on her face, and Ginny suddenly realised that she was as worried about Ron as Ginny was about Harry.
“I wish I knew, Ginny. I do. If Harry is using his Patronus then there must be something he needs to talk to Ron about alone. Look, Ginny, try not to worry about it. Just think about the wonderful time you’re going to have at school. Right then, I should get going as well, the Goblins don’t take kindly to lateness.”
Hermione gave Ginny a hug and then headed back towards the barrier taking her back to platform 9 ¾, her bushy hair billowing out behind her.
Ginny sighed, she was getting used to being left alone. She dragged her trunk onto the train and then headed to the Prefects carriage to commence her duties.
After completing her prefect duties, which including telling off several second years for practising inappropriate charms on a chocolate frog, Ginny finally settled down in a carriage with her friends Colin Creevy, his brother Dennis, and Luna Lovegood.
“Hi, Colin, Dennis, Luna,” she said greeting each of them in turn.
All three answered at once, “Hi, Ginny!”
“I thoroughly enjoyed your birthday party Ginny. I thought that Harry might have been there though,” said Luna dreamily, her mad eyes gazing at Ginny.
Ginny could feel herself going bright red and concentrated as hard as possible to fight it off. Luna was very good at accidentally saying things that were uncomfortably honest. “Oh. Well, you know, Luna, he was probably busy with work.”
“I still don’t see why he was so rude to you last year, Ginny,” Colin piped up.
“He had his reasons. I’d rather not talk about it.”
“But…”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Ginny snapped furiously.
Colin quickly looked away and started chatting to Dennis. Next to Ginny, Luna had busied herself with a copy of the Quibbler.
Ginny sighed and reached for Harry’s notebook and she started reading again. The next hour of the journey was spent in silence, save for the incessant chatter of the Creevy Brothers. Ginny had finished reading Harry’s notebook two times until she had nearly all of the spells memorised. She could not wait to be able to test out some of these spells. However, there was one spell listed that Ginny hoped that she would never have to use, its description read:
Very Strong Healing Spell. Untested. Potentially (and probably) Dangerous. ONLY EVER USE AS A LAST RESORT.
“Does anyone fancy playing a game of exploding snap?” asked Dennis, reaching into his robe and withdrawing a deck of cards.
“Oh yes. I enjoy a game of exploding snap. It’s not much fun when you lose an eyebrow though.” Said Luna.
Ginny sighed; she could not ignore her friends for the rest of the journey. “Oh fine. Go on then. Deal the cards Dennis.”
After several games of exploding snap the cabin was filled with laughter and Colin had forgotten that Ginny had snapped at him the train began to slow down.
“We must be at Hogsmeade,” said Colin. “It’s good to be back. Don’t you think so, Ginny?”
After the train had arrived at Hogsmeade Station and the students were safely led back to Hogwarts, Ginny watched as the new batch of first years were led off by Professor Grubbly-Plank to be spoken to by the deputy Headmaster, Professor Flitwick. Ginny watched them leave and felt a stab of sadness as she remembered when she had first arrived at Hogwarts, to be led off by Hagrid. Ginny felt the tears welling up as she remembered Hagrid; giants had killed him as he attempted to reason with them just before Voldemort was destroyed.
Ginny wiped a tear from her eye as Dennis Creevy spoke, “Do you remember when I started here? I fell in the lake!”
“And the giant squid pushed you back into the boat!” answered Colin enthusiastically.
Ginny laughed as she remembered when Dennis had fallen in the lake. When she’d stopped laughing, Colin, Dennis, Luna and Ginny headed into the Great Hall.
Ginny looked up at the ceiling as she walked into the Great Hall, the house banners hung from the enchanted ceiling; which was bewitched to look like the night sky. The Great Hall always seemed to crackle with excitement, as if something major was going to happen every time you stepped into the room; this time was no exception, as Ginny could feel the electricity in the air, she could practically taste it.
There was no time to think about what might happen this year as the doors of the Great Hall opened again and Professor Flitwick entered, the first years trailing behind him and looking very, very nervous.
As the first years lined up by a stool with a familiar looking hat sat upon it. Ginny found herself a seat at the Gryffindor table and was joined by Colin and Dennis. Luna Lovegood, who was in Ravenclaw, waved at them from her table.
After the sorting was complete, and the new students had found seats amongst their respective houses, Headmistress McGonagall stood up and began her to address the Great Hall.
“Greetings to all our new students, and a warm welcome to our returning ones” McGonagall started. “I have a few important messages, firstly, I am pleased to announce that we have found a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year.”
There was an outbreak of mutterings around the Great Hall, Defence against the Dark Arts had been taught by a most unsatisfactory Ministry appointed teacher last year.
“Settle down, settle down!” ordered McGonagall “Now for the benefit of all our new students, I would like to introduce our heads of houses, firstly, head of Hufflepuff, Professor Sprout.”
The Hufflepuff students all applauded, as Professor Sprout stood up and took a bow.
“That’s enough, that’s enough,” called McGonagall. “Head of Ravenclaw and Deputy Headmaster, Professor Flitwick.”
Tiny Professor Flitwick climbed to his chair and gave a wave as Ravenclaw house stood and cheered.
“Head of Slytherin House, Professor Slughorn.”
Slytherin house cheered and applauded as their head of house stood up, and took a little bow, twiddling his impressive handlebar moustache as he did so.
“And to round things off, I am pleased to welcome back as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and the new Head of Gryffindor House, Professor Lupin.”
Ginny looked up in shock; sure enough, sitting with the rest of the staff, was Remus Lupin.
The Gryffindor table exploded into rapturous applause as Lupin got to his feet. His robes were still tatty, his hair flecked with more grey than it had been last time he taught at Hogwarts, but he could not help but smile as students and staff alike applauded him.
“That is all for now. Let’s enjoy the feast!” Said McGonagall, a smile crossing her thin lips. As she spoke the plates on the house tables filled with many different foods, each one looked as delicious as the next one.
Ginny helped herself to a large helping of pork chops and mashed potatoes before she looked away from the Gryffindor table, and surveyed the other tables; the students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses were all smiling and chatting excitedly. Even most of the Slytherins were smiling, which was a rarity.
The events of last year leaving her mind for the first time in a long time, Ginny turned back towards her friends, a smile etched on her face.
A/N - Hope you all enjoyed reading this one, Chapter 6 is now online!